


Take My Hand (We’re Walking a Tightrope)

by Camphalfgalra



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, How Do I Tag, Kidge Week 2018, Multiple AU’s, Zombie AU, almosg every prompt is going to be an au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 01:43:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14345331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camphalfgalra/pseuds/Camphalfgalra
Summary: Prompts for Kidge Week 2018!





	1. I’ll Be Your Sword

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They always argued over who would be the sword and shield in the game, but when fiction became reality five years later, she finally realized just why she was always the shield.

"I'm the sword and you're the shield! That's the only way we've ever played the game!" Keith argued, the fifteen year old growing increasingly frustrated as Pidge kept arguing with him.

"But I want to be the sword," the amber eyed girl replied sullenly. "How come you always get to be the sword? I want to be the sword for once!"

"You're always the shield in this game! That's just how it's always been, and that's how it's going to stay!"

"You're so infuriating! What if I don't want to be the shield in the game anymore? What if I want to be the sword so that I can kick some ass instead of just protecting you while you kick ass? Has that ever occurred to you?" She spat, glaring at Keith. 

"I can't believe they're fighting over who gets to be the sword and shield of Voltron," Lance whispered, leaning in closer to Hunk. "She's always been the shield since day one and he's always been the sword."

"I saw this coming once I saw the cool upgrade when the game updated a week ago, but I didn't think they'd get this heated up over it," Hunk murmured, staring at the two bickering teens, completely fascinated with their arguing. "Amazing how games break them apart so easily."

"Agreed."

"You've always been the shield, and for a good reason too!" Keith yelled frustratedly, pulling at the edges of hair harshly. "I've always been the sword because I'm good at fighting! You've always been the sword because you're good at protecting us from losing to the Galra!"

Pidge crossed her arms, glaring at Keith. "Is that supposed to make me feel better? This is my game, my PlayStation, my house, and I demand to be the sword!"

"No," Keith retorted, glaring back at her. "I'm the sword, and you're the shield!"

"But I'm tired of only being able to protect all of you during battle! I want to fight!"

"But your lion shoots out the cool vine thingies!"

"You two do realize that you're arguing over a game, right?" Lance intercepted, looking at the duo with a bored expression. "Are we going to play or no?"

"I'll play when Keith lets me be the sword!"

"I call bullshit," Keith declared. He took a deep breath, attempting to make her realize why being the shield was her right position. "Look, there's a reason why you're the shield! You're the one protecting us in the game, just like you protect all of us from the idiots in school who love to bother us. It may seem like a boring job, but without you we wouldn't have the highest score in the entire game. We need you to protect us," he finished, looking down at Pidge with an arched brow. "Do you get it now?"

"I do," she replied. "I still want to be the sword," she mumbled under her breath after Keith sighed happily, seemingly satisfied with her answer. Keith only groaned in response, much to Lance and Hunk's amusement.

* * *

_"I still want to be the sword."_

* * *

The words echoed through her mind as she stood over his limp body, his breathing labored and his eyes barely open. Everyone around them was crying and running in different directions, the entire city in a state of emergency. Zombie outbreak, she briefly recalled hearing a passerby scream as he ran through the street. 

Bombs were going off everywhere in an attempt to flush the undead out of the city, but it was no use. The city was slowly being overtaken by the undead, and hundreds of perfectly healthy people were being killed by the bombs that were raining down on them. Children were without mothers, wailing on the streets, and everyone was panicking. Apartments were on fire and the sky was full of smoke, the once blue skies a shade of red and orange. 

"Pidge..."

She quickly looked down at Keith, pushing his bangs out of the way and cupping his cheek with her left hand. "Keith! You're going to be okay, I promise. Just...just hold on a little bit longer, okay? Shiro's coming," she said, her heart racing as she saw more and more people run in the opposite direction. "I promise you, we're going to be okay."

"Don't lie," he croaked, reaching a bloody hand out to caress her cheek. "We're...not gonna make it..."

"Don't say that!" She scolded angrily, tears pooling at the sides of her eyes. "We're going to be alright, I promise you–"

"You have to go," he whispered, clutching her hand against his chest. "You have to save yourself." He coughed, his eyes closed half way. "I'm not gonna make it."

"Shut up!" She hissed, swallowing back the lump that had formed in her throat. "You're going to be fine!"

"Be the sword," he said softly but firmly, finally letting his eyes shut completely, his breathing growing increasingly shallow. Pidge's eyes widened and she grabbed his face harshly, aggressively shaking her head. 

"No, no! Keith, stay with me! You promised you'd stay with me for the rest of my life, damn it! I'm expecting you to keep that promise!" She yelled, tears finally falling down her cheeks. He was losing blood fast, and she knew that he wasn't going to make it, no matter how much she wanted to save him. 

"Goddamn it, Keith," she whispered, running a hand through her hair as she looked around. "Shiro! Lance! Hunk! Anyone! Help!"

All she heard was the mass of the undead getting near, their moans and groans growing increasingly louder and they made their way towards her and Keith. 

_"Look, there's a reason why you're the shield! You're the one protecting us in the game!"_

_"I still want to be the sword."_

Right then and there, she made a decision. 

She quickly ran and grabbed the lid of a nearby garbage can, the people in the apartment buildings yelling at her, yelling at her to run before it was too late. She paid no heed to their yelling and stood in front of Keith's limp, but still barely alive, body, glaring at the zombies in pure hatred.

She wasn't going to be the sword. She was going to be the shield to protect him, the one she loved, even if meant that she would die. 

She would be his shield until death did them apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got kinda uh angsty towards the end? My bad.


	2. Perfectly You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge thinks that she has to change her style of clothing so that Keith will finally notice her. Keith, however, disagrees.

Under normal circumstances, Pidge wouldn't care how she looked like. She would wear whatever she pleased as long as it was comfortable, her go to clothing being baggy sweaters and loose jeans.

Lately, however, she had started caring a lot more for her appearance than she would like to admit, and it was all Keith's fault. 

Keith was a kid who sat in the back of her chemistry class, the only one who actually knew what he was doing. Well, other than her, of course. He was quiet and only raised his hand to answer a question ever so often, his voice sounding like music to her ears whenever he did so. He barely paid any attention to her, only listening to her when she answered a question. 

She was hellbent on getting him to notice her, though, and the first thing she had to change to achieve that was her appearance. 

She had to rummage through her closet for a decent outfit that seemed feminine enough, deciding on a pair of tight skinny jeans and a light green blouse that fell below her waist, hugging her curves tightly. To accompany the outfit, she picked out some old high heeled boots that Allura had bought her for her birthday last year. Lastly, she applied some make up to her face, adding mascara and eyeliner with a light shade of pink lipstick to accompany her look. 

As expected, everyone's heads turned once she walked into school that morning, the girl getting catcalled by the jocks who had never even noticed her until today, except for Shiro, who just stared after her, wide eyed. 

"Pidge!" He called out, running after her. "Wait up!"

"What do you want, Shiro?" Pidge asked impatiently, picking up her face as she entered the stairway. "I have chemistry first period, and I'm not trying to lose points by being late."

"We have five minutes before the period starts," Shiro pointed out, the senior looking her up and down as they walked together to her chemistry class. "I almost didn't recognize you when I saw you walk in. You look...different," he said uneasily. 

"It's a good different though, right?"

"I guess so..." He trailed off, a small frown appearing on his face. "Why the sudden change though? I thought you loved your baggy clothes, from what Matt has told me."

"I just felt the need to look pretty for once. Why?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as they exited the staircase on the third floor. "Are you saying I look bad?" She questioned defensively, her brows furrowing. 

"No no!" Shiro quickly reassured her, waving his hands in front of him. "I'm just saying that it's going to take a while for any of us to get used to uh...this," he said, gesturing towards her outfit. "If it's any consolation, I think you looked amazing even without all the fancy clothes!"

"Look Shiro," Pidge replied in annoyance, stopping in front of her chemistry class impatiently, "I don't need you to tell me what makes me look better or not. I'm doing this for myself, so buzz off and leave me alone." She turned towards the door of her class, glancing at Shiro one last time before entering. 

Shiro only stood in front of the classroom, sighing in defeat once he heard the gasps from her classmates. He had a feeling he knew why—and more specifically, for who— she had decided to change her style, and it only made him wince. 

Keith was not going to it react well.

* * *

The gasps that the class emitted were instantaneous, and she only pushed her hair over her shoulder as she made her way to her desk. She risked a glance in Keith's direction, hoping to catch him staring at her. To her disappointment, he only quirked a brow before turning his attention back to his notebook, unfazed by her entrance. 

She only frowned and took a seat, pulling out her notebook and copying down the notes that had been written on the board. While the teacher droned on and on about covalent bonds, she could only think about his reaction. 

Was she still not pretty enough with a complete makeover? Everyone else had noticed the change, but it was like he didn't even care. While everyone else had gasped and catcalled her, he had only raised a brow and looked back down at his notebook, completely uninterested in her. She felt... _angry_. She had just gotten a complete makeover for him, and he acted like he didn't even notice. 

He was being a dick, in her opinion. She hadn't changed her style completely only for him to just glance at her. She was angry, angry because he hadn't  bothered to look at her during the entire period even though she answered as many questions as she could. 

By the end of the period, she was completely fed up with him. She had just spend a complete forty five minutes trying to catch his attention by passing out papers and answering every question in vain, and she was growing increasingly annoyed with him. As soon as the bell rang, she ran out of the room, following Keith as he made his way down the hall to his English class.

"Hey!" She called out angrily, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around to face her. "What's your problem, man?!"

Keith only arched a brow, completely baffled. "What problem?"

"You didn't even notice my new outfit or anything! All you did was look up and look away like I didn't just get prettier all of a sudden!" She yelled, glaring daggers into his soul. "I didn't get this makeover for nothing, you know!"

Keith crossed his arms, the students around them whispering to one another as they made their way to class. "I did notice, though."

"You–! Wait, what?" She asked, her voice losing any trace of anger that it had previously had. "What do you mean you noticed?!"

"I noticed your makeover as soon as you stepped into the class. I didn't say anything because, well, I didn't think it mattered." He shrugged. "Was it supposed to matter?"

"Didn't matter?!" She practically screeched, Keith wincing. "Of course it mattered! You're the entire reason I changed my style, you asshole!"

"I don't understand why you would," he retorted, a small frown on his face. "You're only changing yourself into something you aren't."

"Are you saying that I'm ugly and that I'm trying too hard to be pretty?" She flared, obviously offended by his comment. 

"No," Keith sighed exasperatedly. By now, they were the only two left in the hall, most students in their classes already. "What I'm trying to say is that you don't need to wear a bunch of makeup and tight ass fuck clothing to look pretty. You look pretty without all that shit." He shrugged, turning around on his heel. "But that's just my opinion." He walked away, waving goodbye as he made his way to his English class, leaving her with her mouth agape as she stared after him. 

It was true, in his opinion. Sure she looked nice in her fancy clothes, but she looked amazing without it. She was beautiful to him, no matter what type of clothing she wore. So the next day, when she walked in with her baggy green sweater and loose blue jeans, he only smiled at her knowingly. 

And if her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink, he didn't mention it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really had no idea what to do for Day 2 but uh this happened lolol.


	3. I (Secretly) Adore You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She can’t stand him, and he can’t stand her. It’s mutual. But there’s a teeny, tiny problem with their hatred, because they don’t really hate one another.

To most people in their school, it seemed like they hated each other.

She was your typical sophomore, always paying attention —albeit rather forcefully— to the teacher, answering most of the questions, especially during chemistry. She wore decent clothing and didn't dress too fancy, which was apparently some kind of sin to the others since she was attending the best high school in the city.

He was a typical junior. Although he tried to hide it, he was pretty smart. He ranked second in the school's top ranking students, coming second to Pidge, who was first, naturally. Even though he was smart in class, he wasn't really what one would call, 'socially smart.' He had gotten into many different fights outside of school, and tended to be sensible to any offhand comment that someone would make about him. 

She couldn't stand him. 

He was too _perfect_ , in her opinion. He was smart, handsome, and a nice person during school hours. It was no secret that he fought a lot out of school, but he knew how to make sure that it wouldn't damage his school record. It was...frustrating, to say the least. The teachers either loved or hated him, and sometimes compared the two of them, which she absolutely hated. They had nothing in common. She hated him, but she also adored him from afar. 

Even though he was a pain in the ass by beating her to answering the teacher's questions, she admired how smart he actually was. She was attracted to his intellect —his hotness helped too— and even though she would tell everyone how much she hated him, that couldn't be farther from the truth. 

She absolutely secretly adored him. 

He, on the other hand, thought that she was too stuck up. She would always try to beat him to answer any of the teacher's questions, and it pissed him off. She also felt the need to always bring up the fact that she was smarter than everyone, which was impressive and true, but it was just annoying at this point. He was always being compared to her, and it irritated him. They were nothing alike, in his opinion. 

Although he said he hated her, he didn't believe it for a second. He knew he was lying to himself, and that their 'rivalry' as the high school's top two students was fake, but it was... _fun_. He loved teasing her —well, more like bullying her, in a way— every time he saw her, taking immense joy in watching her get riled up over his comments. Pretending he didn't admire her was hard, especially since he didn't just admire her. He secretly adored her. 

Almost everyone knew that the rivalry was made up. Well, everyone except Lance, who was buying the whole thing, despite Shiro and Hunk telling him various times that it wasn't a real rivalry. Unless you were new to the school, you would realize just how fake their hatred for one another seemed. But no matter how much they adored one another, they wouldn't hesitate to aggressively deny it if they were questioned about it.

* * *

"Oh look, there she is, folks! It's Katie Holt, the 'smartest girl in the world,'" Keith mocked, leaning against his locker. "Why don't you just come rub it in my face already! We can all tell that you're _dying_ to rub it in our faces."

"Shut the fuck up, future jail resident," she hissed, walking past him and sticking the middle finger up. 

"Make me, calculator brain!"

"Greaser!"

"Teacher's pet!" He called out, watching her flick him off again as she rounded the corner. 

As soon as they turned away from one another, a smile broke out on each of their faces. They absolutely loathed each other's presence, that was clear as day in their opinion. But they also absolutely secretly adored each other, and they were okay with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Kidgeweek Day 3: Adore  
> (I know I’m late I’m so sorry.)

**Author's Note:**

> I’m a day late but here’s my contribution to Kidge Week 2018. :’)


End file.
